30 Kisses for Zuko and Katara
by freckles-knows
Summary: 30 different drabbles for the 30 kisses prompts.
1. War Heros Wedding

**A/N: Yes, I am just another author writing drabbles based off of the 30 kisses prompt list. As some of the prompts require knowledge of electrical technology, I do not know if I will be able to complete all 30. But, I shall do my best. Also, I would like to thank my dear friend Carmen for once again beta'ing my drabble even though she isn't too fond of Avatar herself.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, not even the prompt.**

**Prompt no. 7: Superstar**

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She, along with Aang, Toph, Sokka, Suki and Zuko were now the most recognizable people in the world. It was a feeling she knew she was going to have to get used to. The war had been over for almost half a year, and she still was still surprised when people on the street called her by name or offered her gifts, that she always tried to politely refuse. But as everyone reminded her, she was a war hero. Stories had been recorded, songs already being sung and truth was in the process of being stretched into myth and legends, all about them; Some, like the poem 'Katara the Great', completely about her.

Aang was the Avatar. He would have received this sort of fame no matter what. Toph was completely unknown by the people even in her own town thanks to her overprotective parents. She was taking surprisingly well to her newfound fame, and title as the greatest earthbender in the world. Sokka, while having been the chiefs son back in his small village, was letting everything go to his big head. Lucky for them, they had Suki, leader of the mighty Kyoshi Warriors to knock him back down to size. Zuko was the banished Prince turned Fire Lord. Like Aang, he was already destined to be famous. Katara, the war hero, the waterbending master, was now famous for something else.

She was famous for being, or well, about to be the first non Fire Nation woman to become Fire Lady in written memory. What was more shocking was that it had not been arranged for them, as was the usual custom, but it was the two of them that had arranged it themselves.

The two of them had taken tee in the Fire Lords study, as they had taken to doing whenever Katara was in the capitol, and when they had emerged, they announced to a stunned crowed that they were going to be married in two months time.

The day of their wedding came, a cliché sun meets moon theme courtesy of Iroh, and it felt like every person either of them had ever met was there. Some people saw two different nations coming together to rule as one the official beginning of the new age, and did not want to miss it. Others were sure that the two passionately loved each other, and had for a very long time.

While no one completely knew what reason brought the two together, they all cheered as the most famous duo in the world brought their lips together in their wedding kiss.


	2. The Sound of Waves

**A/N: Here is my second part to something that will hopefully have thirty parts… Eventually =]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**Prompt no. 29: The Sound of Waves**

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The sound of water reminded Katara of many things. It reminded her of her home in the South Pole. It reminded her of all of her battles she had fought over the previous months. It reminded her of everyone she had healed over the course of the journey. It reminded her of when she brought Aang back from the brink of death. It reminded her of battling Azula while Zuko was on the ground, twitching helplessly.

Katara still had nightmares about that battle. Except in her nightmares, it was always worse. Sometimes she didn't get to Zuko in time. Other times Azula had shot her down where she stood and Katara drew her last breath lying next to a lifeless Zuko. She always awoke in a horrible fright, breathing wildly, before she calmed herself down and reminded herself that isn't what really happened.

One morning after one of her nightmares, she found herself in an unfamiliar place. Looking around, she noticed that the entire room was decorated in reds and oranges.

_That's right. We're visiting Zuko. Hm.. The sun is already up…He should be too._

She slipped out of the large bed and dressed herself quickly. When she left her room, she wondered where she should start her search for him. As she was thinking that it was about to turn into a serious predicament of where to go first, she heard a splash coming from the turtle duck pond.

"Come on, don't swim away! I know it's a little stale, but this is all I have this morning." Katara rounded the corner and saw the young Fire Lord staring after four turtle ducks that had already swam to the middle of the little pond.

"Zuko… Are, uh, you okay?" Katara quirked an eyebrow at the sight that was before her.

"Uh, yeah. It's just…. The turtle ducks, uh…. Well, see, I come out here every morning, but I guess this morning they don't like what I have for them," he gestured to the loaf of stale bread in his hand. A look passed over his face, as if he had just figured something out, as he looked at her again. "What about you? It's just after sunrise. You're never up this early."

Katara sat on the bench in front of the pond, and Zuko joined her. Katara had told Zuko about the nightmares before, but she could tell by the look on his face that they bothered him just as much as they bothered her. Well, not _as_ much, because he wasn't the one having them.

"I, erm, had a nightmare. The nightmare, actually. The one where… where I couldn't get to you in time…" She did not look at him in order to spare herself the look of pain she figured that passed over his face.

He surprised her when he grabbed her hand with one hand, and turned her face towards him with the other.

"Katara," he stated firmly while looking her in the eyes, "if it were not for you, I would not be alive today. I'm quite sure of that. If you ever have one of those nightmares again, I just want you to remember that. And to remember that I am eternally grateful for what you did."

The sound of turtle ducks creating waves on the pond filled her ears as she watched Zuko lean in and place a kiss on her cheek. A blush rose to her face as she felt the small corner of his lips overlap with her own.

She added another memory, a good one for the first time in quite a while, to the list of things that the sound of waves reminded her of.


	3. The Journey Home

**A/N: This one is set during "The Southern Raiders" when Zuko and Katara would have been flying back to the others. I know that this doesn't fit in with the real end of the episode, but that's why it's called fan fiction =]**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, or its characters.**

**Prompt no. 20: The Road Home**

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Zuko sat atop Appa's head, steering. He could hear Katara somewhere behind him in the saddle. He guessed by the way he kept hearing her heaving a sigh or sniffing like she was trying to hold back tears every few minutes that she was not asleep. He knew better than to bother her. Just because she hadn't killed Yon Rha didn't mean that she might not throw Zuko off of Appa into the ocean below for attempting to talk to her when she so obviously wanted to be left alone.

For her sake, he was not encouraging Appa to fly any faster than a leisurely pace back to camp. He figured that she would not want the others to see her in such a weakened state at such a time, as the day of the comet was swiftly approaching. Once again, the Avatar had been right, and he had been wrong. Katara hadn't needed revenge, just some form of closure. Zuko was certain that the whole incident had simply brought up memories of her mother, and that those memories made her cry.

More minutes passed as Zuko continued to stare lazily down at the water. Suddenly, the seas became turbulent and geysers began shooting up everywhere. Zuko turned to see Katara flinging her arms about her in a fit of rage. He jumped up from his position on Appa's head and ran to her.

"Katara!" He tried to grip her shoulders, but was unsuccessful. "Katara, you need to calm down, or you're going to shoot us out of the sky with one of those geysers!" She had stopped her motions enough that he was able to get a good grip on her forearms. "That's better. Now, what's going on? You haven't said a word the whole journey home, and all of a sudden you have the entire ocean churning and spitting."

Katara looked up at him with fierce tear filled eyes. "I wanted to kill him. I _should_ have killed him. But at the last second…S-she… I saw her giving me the most disapproving and disappointed look…" Zuko's eye went wide as Katara lost control and broke down into a shudder of tears. "I've been dreaming of this day since she was taken from me, and at the last second I see her and I can see from the look on her face that…she doesn't want me to kill him!" Katara was gripping Zuko's forearms in return, and she dropped her head to the floor of the saddle.

Zuko pulled her torso onto his lap, and touched one of his hands to her hair. "If that is what you saw, it probably had nothing to do with who you were planning on killing, and entirely with the fact that you were doing harm to someone who was no longer a threat. Your mother did not want her only daughter to become a murderer." Katara lay crying in his lap for several more minutes, the whole time he stroked her hair, hoping that it was a calming gesture.

"...You're probably right. That doesn't change the fact that I feel this way. I finally had him in front of me, and I just…."

"Katara," He pulled her into a sitting position and looked directly into her eyes, "you had him down on all fours like a hog monkey. Not only that, but you had him begging for his life, something no Fire Nation soldier, let alone a former leader of a fleet, is ever supposed to do. He has probably never been so scared in his entire life as he was at that moment. You didn't kill him because your mother wouldn't have wanted you to. But I can promise you, you are going to haunt that mans dreams for the rest of his life. Every time it rains, he will be looking over his shoulder wondering if you've changed your mind and come back for him."

Katara gave a weak little smile at the thought. "I guess I did scare him, huh?"

Zuko grinned. "I think he might have peed his pants, but it was a little hard to tell with the rain." He was glad to hear her laugh.

"Zuko," she pulled him into a tight hug, "Thank you for helping me find him." She looked into his eyes, and very slowly and deliberately placed a soft kiss onto his unscarred cheek. "And thank you for consoling me when I needed it even though I've been treating you like…. like…."

"An elephant rat?"

"Sure, an elephant rat, since you've joined us. That's all in the past now, I promise."

Zuko hugged her back. They broke apart, and cast a glance at the setting sun.

"Guess I can spur Appa on now. They'll be wondering where we are."

Zuko sat himself down on Appa's head once more, as Katara curled up and slept the rest of the journey home.


	4. The Tenth Time

**A/N: 4 down, 26 to go? Haha, so it seems. Here we have formal!Zuko and annoyed!Katara. Let us have a look, shall we?  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Still.**

**Prompt no. 10: #10  
**

Mere weeks ago if anyone had asked her if there could have possibly been something more stressful than plotting and executing the downfall of the most powerful entity on the planet with only a band of teenagers and a secret league of old men, she would have water whipped them from the room so fast their head would spin. But, as the saying goes, that was then, and this was now.

She spent most of her days in a set of clothes that they managed to fashion into something that bore a slight resemblance to the formal dress of the Southern Water Tribe, or at least that is what she was told, having never seen any before. They were made out of what she was sure was some of the only blue fabric in the whole Fire Nation. The reason for this was there was much to be done. There were kings, governors and other important officials to have dinner with, and generals, majors and other military people to have strategy meetings with. The niceties that society said must be observed were, and it drove her crazy. People were still dying, whether it be Fire Nation killing Earth Nation or the other way around, it did not seem to matter as long as everyone had a cup of tea in her hand.

In the end, it was another day that went by with nothing being decided. She and her friends went into Zuko's private sitting room to privately complain about the slow proceedings yet again. It was becoming almost a daily ritual. Katara was therefore already on tender hooks when she first caught Zuko staring at her. Perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her, but she thought she saw something accusatory in his eyes. Did he think it was somehow her fault things were progressing so slowly? She ground her teeth as he turned away and tried to ignore it.

But it happened again. And again. And then quite a few more times.

The tenth time Katara caught Zuko staring at her that night she lost it.

"Excuse me, Mr. Fire Lord _Sir_," she let out through clenched teeth, "could I see you in the hall?" She turned on her heal and marched out the door, hearing rather than seeing him following her. Once the door was shut, she rounded on him.

"What exactly is your problem with me? Did I offend someone from drinking out of the wrong teacup? Did I forget to ask if everyone was comfortable? Was my charade of not giving an elephant rats nose if Mr. Lee's turtle ducks were all okay not good enough?" Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but Katara was already in a comfortable stride and showed no signs of slowing down.

"Because if so, well then pardon me for being more worried about those people out there who are still being murdered even after one hundred years of war has finally come to an end. I don't know how many more damn dinners and strategy meetings I can sit through before I go out there myself! Now Sokka may being staying for the food, and Aang because he has tom but no one is going to miss a….a….a Southern Peasant like me! So we better start actually making progress soon, or else. And I'll thank you to stop glancing over at me every two seconds!" Finished, she turned her back on him and started to take her braids out of her hair, hoping it would release some of the tension in her head.

"I believe the more accurate term would be Southern Princess," Zuko spoke at last.

"What do you mean?" She did not turn to him, but continued to take down her hair, only half listening.

"It is because of the Fire Nation that the Southern Tribe was scattered over many places and not united like the Northern Tribe. We have decided to rectify that. Chief Arnook and Master Pakku have decided to send a troop of waterbenders to the South to restore her to her previous splendor. As the chiefs daughter, I believe that would put you as Princess Katara." He stated it such a matter-of-fact manner that Katara was taken aback.

"W-well, if you think that changes anything I-"

"And if you must know, Princess Katara," the name sounded so strange to her, "I was staring at you wondering how much longer you would be staying here. I know sitting about does not appeal to you, but I have grown rather fond of your company. Also, I was rather worried you might go off and try to ahhh… persuade some of the members to quickly finish the meetings. Now, if you will excuse me, I must retire before I decide to go and make up and sign orders without the input of the other councilmen." He raised his good eyebrow at her, while grasping her hand and bringing it briefly to his lips. Then he was gone.

Katara gaped after him. What world was this? Zuko being level headed while she lost her temper? Zuko observing the details of society while Katara called herself a peasant and had been considering (however idly) bloodbending the damn councilmen to get them to sign proclamations? Then again, it had been an odd few weeks

She rubbed her scalp with her fingers, decided she too must sleep if she were to put up with it all over again tomorrow, trying to ignore the persistent tingle where his lips had been.


End file.
